This is after reading and talking to others, I'm thinking about this. I'm not very educated on electricity so I wonder 2 things right away. What brands are good for whole house protection and how do I know how much protection I need? Can I just go by the amperage in the circuit panel (main circuit breaker) ? One person gave me a brand called Eaton and told me depending on model (Ultra being the best and most expensive) from maybe $250 to $500 but said it could be more if I don't have a spare circuit breaker to wire into. Suggestions welcome.
The power company around here will install one on your electric meter base. I'm not sure of a monthly charge or protection guarantee but you may check if your local power company has such a program. ^_^
I prefer to protect individual circuits that have electronic devices such as computers and TV's. I heard a neighbor had a whole house unit and when it blew, it took an electrician and half a day to get power back.
If it took an electrician and half a day to get power back, what do you think would have happened if they instead relied on plug-in surge protectors for just the TV? A surge of that magnitude could have wrecked all kinds of stuff in the house, even that protected by plug-in type. If it took out a properly installed whole house surge protecter, then it must have been one hell of a surge, eg some kind of very close lightning strike.
A whole house surge protector is the first line of defense against destructive surges, protects everything in the house, and deals with the surge when it first enters the house. As recommended by the IEEE, a tiered protections strategy works best, which means having sensitive electronics, particularly those that are connected not only to power but also to cable, phone lines, etc, protected by additonal plug-in type protectors. The whole house protector will deal with any huge surge that comes in via the power line. The plug-ins will limit the voltage differential between power and cable, phone, etc.
Eaton is a reputable major manufacturer of electrical eqpt. Intermatic is another I would recommend. I would get one rated for at least 20K Amps per phase. A whole house protector should run $100-150. You typically need an additional double pole breaker, ~$20, and as that friend pointed out, if you don't have an empty slot that will increase the cost. It should take an hour to install, assuming everything else is in order.
How do you install it without an additional circuit breaker? gfretw indicated that you could do that if an existing breaker has terminals that are listed for and allow double tapping, but in my experience that is not a breaker that you typically find in a home panel.
There is a lot of confusing information regarding these. There are very expensive models that don't have the capability of cheaper units. Some are listed as to be used at the equipment instead of the box. Some or most hast stranded leads make sure your breaker, if a attached, can handle stranded wire. The units I use as can be seen on some Holmes on Holmes. I had a previous model attached in my box. One day the during a storm the lights were going off on dim, etc, bang I heard downstairs at the box. Breaker tripped, unit blew out through it's mounting hole. Trying to get free replacement, for some reason didn't qualify. I order new unit, which had upgrade rating to 150000 amps. Good to go.
I did not have a near lightning strike during this episode. I imagine the spike came from somewhere. It might even originated from my equipment at home, if that's possible, or some other house or factory. I had a strike this summer 100 foot from house. Nothing I could see in house that had any effect.
But how do we know what type of screw driver? There are the tapered ones that can be used as a chisel and digger, and there are the cute cross ones for chopping ice.
Most are in the $200 range. How do they differ from the lower priced ones? Or don't they, aside from price.
I bet they are just being conservative, but the ratings are not any better. One thing I see on mine, the trip voltage is lower than others.
When I moved in, power company said if I wanted to keep the installed meter suppressor, I would have to pay so much per month. Question is, did they remove it. Knowing the old owners of the house, I can't believe they would pay for something like that.
Dale-Electric.com has a similar Ditek unit for more like $35-40.
I believe it is part of the listing standard that all regular circuit breakers accept stranded wire. Just be sure it is in the range of acceptable sizes.
There are some surge arresters that snap in like a standard circuit breaker into a spare 2 pole slot with a ground wire that needs to be connected to the ground bar. I don't remember the brand but I remember seeing a cut sheet on it at the electrical supply house one day. O_o
Certainly you follow the installation instructions and that one must have internal over current protection but there are plenty that don't and say they must be behind a breaker.
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